FAIRHOPE, Ala. – Jets coach Rex Ryan thought this was going to be the year his brother, Rob, joined him as an NFL head coach.
But Rob Ryan, the Saints defensive coordinator, did not even get an interview for one of the head-coaching vacancies.
There have been reports that owners are scared off by Rob Ryan’s long hair. Rex said that’s the best explanation he’s heard.
“You tell me one other reason why he doesn’t have a [head-coaching job] right now with the kind of job he did,” Rex Ryan told The Post on Monday at a practice for the Senior Bowl. “Maybe that’s it. I told him, ‘Dude, how about you go get a haircut? It makes no difference.’ I said, ‘You can wear the Fu Manchu if you’re bald.’
“I can’t explain it. Is it the hair? I don’t know. I’m trying to get him to get a haircut. Hopefully, this is one of the things that motivates him to do so.”
Rex Ryan said the job Rob did as Saints defensive coordinator this season should have gotten him a look from NFL teams searching for a coach. Rob inherited a defense that was statistically the worst in the NFL and turned it into the fourth defense overall in yards allowed.
“It was one of, in my opinion, the greatest coaching jobs in the history of the National Football League,” Rex Ryan said. “You go from 32nd in the league, and they were closer to 33rd in the league than 31st, improve 130-something yards a game and 10 points a game. He doesn’t get an interview? They had more injuries than any team in the league. He had to make adjustments constantly based on personnel. I just thought it was one of the greatest coaching jobs.”
Rex thought his brother would be hired as a head coach, but Rob did not even get an interview with any of the seven teams that had openings.
“It’s amazing,” Rex said. “Everybody knows he can coach. I’m just really shocked he didn’t get an interview at least. I thought he’d get a [head-coaching] job. I guess it wasn’t his time. Hopefully, his time is coming.”